JONESBORO, Ark. – Shahada Wells went coast-to-coast and hit a contested layup as the buzzer sounded on Saturday to give the UT Arlington men's basketball team a thrilling 65-64 win over Arkansas State inside First National Bank Arena.
With 7.9 seconds remaining, Arkansas State's Caleb Fields went to the free-throw line for the front end of a 1-and-1 with his team holding a 64-63 lead. His attempt hit the front rim, and re-directed to the left side of the hoop where UTA's
Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu corralled the ball. Just before falling out of bounds, Akobundu-Ehiogu turned and threw the ball back across the baseline to Wells with 5.5 seconds remaining.
Wells immediately turned and sped up the left sideline, crossed the mid-court line with 3.3 ticks left and continued at full throttle into the paint. With 1.4 seconds remaining, his right-handed layup on the left side of the hoop released from his fingers. With an A-State defender chasing Wells down and attempting to block his shot, he tossed the ball high off the top of the backboard box before it hit the rim three times and fell through the net in perfect synchronization with the clock hitting 0.0 and the red backboard lights illuminating.
Wells finished with 21 points – his 16th time in double figures in now 17 games this year – but it was once again
Sam Griffin leading the way for the Mavs with 23 points less than 24 hours removed from the sophomore tallying a career-high 28. Griffin also knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers as part of his scoring output.
UTA struggled to get much going offensively in the first 30 minutes of the contest as the Mavs had scored only 33 points with less than 10 minutes remaining in the game. However, spearheaded by Griffin and Wells – who accounted for 31 of UTA's 40 2nd-half points – the Mavs scored 32 points in the final 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
The Mavs trailed by as much as nine in the 2nd half on multiple occasions, and by eight with under 5 minutes to play, but mounted an impressive comeback of their own after letting a double-figure 2nd-half lead slip away in an overtime setback to Arkansas State on Friday.
Making the win even more impressive is that UTA was again without Sun Belt Preseason Second Team selection
David Azore (11.4 points, 4.6 rebounds) for the ninth-straight game with a leg injury. Additionally,
Lazaro Rojas (4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds) also missed his eighth-consecutive game with a leg injury.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- UTA improves to 9-9 overall and 5-5 in Sun Belt play, while Arkansas State falls to 6-9 and 3-5 in league action.
- Nicolas Elame grabbed a career-high-tying nine rebounds to propel UTA to a 37-34 rebound advantage over the Red Wolves; A-State held a 52-36 advantage in that category on Friday.
- Redshirt freshman Tre Jones played a career-high 22 minutes and pulled down an important and career-best five offensive rebounds.
- Akobundu-Ehiogu scored a career-best six points against a Division-I team to go along with six rebounds and a pair of blocks.
- Arkansas State's Norchad Omier is the only true freshman in the nation averaging a double-double on the season, and he once again reached that mark with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Keyon Wesley also recorded a double-double for the Red Wolves with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Marquis Eaton scored 14 points and issued a game-high seven assists for A-State.
- Both teams shot 42 percent from the floor (UTA: 24-57; A-State: 27-65). UTA connected at a 47-percent clip from 3-point range in the 2nd half (8-17) to help mount the comeback.
- Wells, who has the 16th-most steals in nation, added three more to his total on Saturday; Jones also had two thefts of his own.
PLAY-BY-PLAY SUMMARY
Fueled by its overtime comeback victory just 16 hours prior, A-State jumped out to an early seven-point lead, 14-7, just seven minutes into the contest. However, the Mavs settled down and answered with an 8-0 run as part of an extended 13-2 stretch to build a 20-16 lead at the 7:30 mark.
However, the Red Wolves closed the half on a prolonged 15-5 run to give themselves a 31-25 lead at intermission. Both teams shot 42 percent from the floor in the 1st half and were relatively even in most every other key category as well, with the exception of UTA's 12 turnovers – its per-game average in Sun Belt games.
A-State maintained a multiple-possession lead throughout most of the 2nd half, and had a 44-36 lead with under 9 minutes to play. However, Griffin quickly knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to pull the Mavs within two, 44-42. From there the two sides traded blows, but A-State took a 57-51 lead into the final media timeout with just under 4 minutes left.
UTA came out of that break by scoring the first five points, capped by an and-1 putback from Akobundu-Ehiogu to pull the Mavs within 57-56. The two sides went back-and-forth over the next few minutes before Wells' heroics.
THIS AND THAT
- This was UTA's second one-point win of the season in the closing seconds; the first came at ULM on Jan. 9, 75-74.
- That ULM game was also the only other time before today that UTA had won a game when trailing with 5 minutes remaining (2-8).
- After losing its first game this season (8-1) when leading at halftime on Friday, UTA won its first game this season (1-8) when trailing at halftime on Saturday.
- UTA coaches and staff wore matching sneakers for the second-straight day in recognition of Cancer vs. Cancer.
NEXT UP
UTA will return home and welcome ULM to the College Park Center next weekend for a pair of games Feb. 5 (6 p.m.) and Feb. 6 (4 p.m.). The Mavs swept the Warhawks on the road earlier this month. ULM sits at 4-13 overall and 2-8 in the Sun Belt after dropping a pair of games at Little Rock this weekend.
FOLLOW ALONG
For updates, behind-the-scenes photos, videos and more engaging and personal content, be sure to follow the men's basketball program on Twitter (@UTAMavsMBB), Instagram (@UTAMavsMBB) and Facebook (/UTAMavsMBB).
